


Beauty in the Breakdown

by romanticalgirl



Category: Dawson's Creek
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-09 04:36:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanticalgirl/pseuds/romanticalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted 8-22-04</p>
    </blockquote>





	Beauty in the Breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 8-22-04

There are times she thinks that if he calls her Potter one more time, she’d going to disembowel him with a sharp stick. It’s not because the name bothers her. It is, after all, hers. But it’s more the way he says it, like he knows something about her, like he’s privy to some secret that no one else knows. There’s also that tone that just has a hint of mocking in it, like he knows that, if he really wanted to, he could push her right over the edge.

It’s the edge that worries her. Because every day she looks at it, and every day it seems a little bit closer. It’s like she can hear the loose pebbles skittering down the side of the cliff toward the bottom she can’t see at all and when she looks over her shoulder, he’s at her back nudging her along. Her foot’s getting precariously close to going over and she knows that if she stumbles, she’ll fall.

Fall for him. Which would be the worst thing she could do. She ignores Dawson’s voice in her head, berating her for stealing lines from movies – worse yet, musicals - and stares out the windshield of the truck, her lips pursed in annoyance that, despite the impression she might be giving, has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he’s forcing her to listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Again. 

“You could lighten up just a little, Potter,” he smiles as he says it, even though he’s not even looking at her. “I promise it won’t kill you.”

It would be justifiable homicide, she’s sure of it. And, after all, with his family in law enforcement, they'd actually be on her side. She casts a quick look at him, her eyes moving just enough to catch his grin as it grows. No one would really care. Except Andie, probably. She actually likes it when he calls her McPhee, but then she hasn’t known him since they were in the embryonic stage, so her opinion doesn’t hold enough weight. 

So, she just convinces him to pull off to the side of the road, hits him over the head with the 44 ounce drink he insisted on getting at the convenience store, drag his body from the car and leave him the woods, Deliverance style. There’s got to be someone in Boston who plays the fiddle. 

“Of course, your smile muscles are probably twisted up on the stick up your ass, so it actually might.”

She slugs him before she even knows she’s reacting, her fist slamming into his arm. It makes a nice solid noise, but he doesn’t flinch and now her hand hurts like hell. “I hate you.”

“Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual these days.” He doesn’t look at her and his grin is gone. “What happened to the Joey Potter we all knew and loathed, huh? When did she get replaced by the uptight bitch who’s been sitting here in the Witter Waggoneer all afternoon?”

“I didn’t ask you to kidnap me and drag me along on this stupid excursion of yours!” She whirls to face him, glaring at him, glad to feel the cliff fading away in the background. “You’ve been a complete and utter jerk ever since…”

He slams on the brakes, obviously not caring that they’re in the middle of the road. His voice, when he speaks is dangerously light. “Since what?”

She’s not sure what to answer, what to say. If she tells him what she’d planned on spitting out in the heat of anger, she’d be freefalling through thin air, because she’s pretty sure if she broke their silence and actually mentioned the kiss he’d given her, he’d pull her across the seat onto his lap and proceed to kiss her until her blood boiled. 

Which, dammit, doesn’t sound so bad. 

Fortunately, just as she opens her mouth, unsure of what’s going to come flying out, there’s a huge crack, a huge sigh and a huge plume of smoke spits out from around the hood of the car, tendrils off it feathering into the cab between them.

“Great. That’s just fucking great.” He slams his hand against the steering wheel and glares at her as if everything’s her fault. 

“What?”

“The radiator’s broken.” His eyes narrow and he shoves his door open. “Again.”

His door slams shut and she nearly jumps at the force behind it. He stalks around to the front of the car and just glares at it, his attention entirely focused on the steam that’s billowing around his face.

And it’s funny; because the steam is sort of haloing him and it’s making his hair fall out of his casual style and sort of hang down on his forehead. And the heat is making his face pink, exacerbated by the cold air and the pure annoyance and his eyes are this gorgeous sparkling blue and…

Fuck.

There’s not even a clichéd branch for her to catch on to to keep herself from falling. She’s just plummeting right along, hair whipping in the breeze as she falls, or it might just be the breeze blowing through the open car door. “What can we do?”

“We,” he snaps, “can get our ass back in the car and just stay out of this.”

“I can help, you know. I’m not some simpering little princess.”

“Oh, you could have fucking fooled me, Potter.” He slams his hand on the hood of the car then turns quickly, heading back for the driver’s side. She watches him, thinking of another ride she shared with him and wondering, just for the smallest of seconds, what things would have been like if she’d kissed him back two years ago. “Well, come on.”

“What?”

“Well, I thought we could leave the car in the middle of the road, but I think that’d be a particularly bad idea.” He gestures into the cab. “So how about you get your ass behind the wheel so I can push it off to the side of the road.”

“I thought you didn’t need my help?” She crosses her arms over her chest and matches him glare for glare. “Big, strong Pacey can do it all by himself.”

“Fine.” He slams the door and the sound echoes through the cold air. “Just fucking fine, Potter. But do me a favor, would you, stay right where you are so I can run your ass over, okay?”

“I didn’t break the goddamn radiator!” She stalks behind him, shoving him in the back. He stumbles slightly and whirls around and suddenly they’re frozen, caught on a patch of grass on the side of the road. Her hands are out; ready to push him again, his up in defense until they grab her wrists and hold her. “I don’t want to fight with you, Pacey.”

He barely nods. “What do you want to do then, Potter?”

And that’s the reason she doesn’t kill him. Because sometimes when he says her name it makes a shiver of pure heat slide down her spine and coil up like a snake in her stomach before it slides even lower. “I don’t…I don’t know.” But she does know and the answer terrifies her more than anything else in the world. More than facing her dad ever did, more than admitting she had feelings for Dawson ever did. “But not this.”

His voice is low and full of something that she thinks might be promise, but it’s hard to tell since it’s making her forget how to think. “But we’re so good at this, Potter.”

She leans in and she’s pretty sure that there’s no going back if she instigates this kiss, but she wants to taste that promise or whatever it is on his lips and see how deep it goes. She needs to know if it’s on his tongue and in his hands and against her body and…

The blast of a car horn separates them and she backs away to the front of the car as another car pulls up beside them. Pacey’s instantly joking, flirting with the driver, who’s pulling out her cell phone and calling a tow truck. She catches her breath and she’s stopped falling, the distance between them now safe enough that she can claw her way back up to the top of the cliff. 

Then he finishes with the driver, waving his thanks as she pulls away. He nods his head then looks over his shoulder and smiles at her.

And it all starts crumbling again.


End file.
